Women avoid mixed sex gyms due to male harassment

[SamW98]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-68145372

Well call me shocked - not!! And they wonder why we want to preserve single sex spaces

My DD has just joined an all female gym. I asked her how they keep any men out, she didn’t know.

And in other news, water is wet.

<Insert long strings of obscenities here>

WHY DO WE HAVE TO KEEP RELEARNING STUFF THAT EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS?

If you go to an 'all female' gym you can then be specially harassed by the special men as opposed to boring ordinary cis harassment.

It’s why I go to a very expensive gym where this sort of thing wouldn’t be tolerated. I’m not saying it would never happen (although in all my years I’ve had one comment once and even that was a bit borderline as to whether it was just a misplaced, awkward compliment) but I know they’d take it very seriously if a woman complained. And, frankly, it’s not the sort of place where you get the ‘roid heads and the knuckle dragging fraternity.

But you shouldn’t have to pay your way out of the shit gyms full of creeps, not least because it excludes those who can’t afford those fees.

And I’d be very wary of a female-only gym. You just KNOW it’s going to be a magnet for those who want their special womanly feelz validated.

Apparently a trans woman has been taken on as manager of a women’s team at a lower league football club. Why hasn’t that job gone to a woman? I thought the FA was promoting women in football.

Sounds idyllic for many reasons. What happens when someone identifying as a woman rocks up? I wonder how many female-only gyms have policies on this scenario?

It's not just their harassment that puts women off gyms. It's the grunting, sweating, posing and general assholery that makes me avoid mixed gyms.

Yes and not wiping down the equipment after use, and hogging various bits of the gym while not actually working out.

My gym sent emails saying that they were starting women only sessions. I wrote to ask if they were really
‘Women only’ or if it was an ID thing.

the query went back and forth as they weasel worded their reply (ie avoided stating outright if it was or wasn’t). I assume the worst.

You just advertise yourself as a female only facility. I used to go to a women only gym. I cannot imagine going to a mixed sex one.

I attend a cheap as chips gym. I'm confident that sexual harassment would be dealt with if you made a complaint. And I've never seen any evidence of it happening.

At my old gym (just outside London) I was doing a dance class with lots of bending and bouncing etc when a man started filming us all through the window. I complained to the teacher and she said yes he’s a known problem but he’s a member of the gym so the manager won’t do anything.

And so many other times when I was using the weights equipment random men would come over and mansplain the equipment to me / work right next to me with lots of grunting despite the whooe room being empty.

I don’t go to the gym anymore. I’d jog in the local wood but it isn’t safe because you know - men.

So mostly I just go for walks. I’m a lot less fit than I used to be.

No the problem is the management of your gym. I strongly believe in single sex spaces. But gyms? No. I refuse to be driven into a women-only ghetto.

A women-only space would be idyllic, not a ghetto

‘The special men’ - that they are. 😂

I go to a cheap as chips gym full of ‘roid heads’ who are actually the nicest and most helpful people, never had an issue with any harassment and I’d be pretty confident if there were any it would be dealt with and that member barred

Lord yes. I used to go to a gym and they had classes. A type of man used to attend and spend the time gazing at the mirror and posing. He threatened to take a woman ‘outside’ and ‘batter’ her. I’m sure it wasn’t an invite to a fish supper.

She had asked him (politely) to please move the mats and yoga balls to the side as the class was about to start (he had arrived early to ‘use’ these - ie pose and gaze at himself).

never saw him in the actual gym (or thankfully the changing rooms/showers). Just posing - he usually left after the classes started.

Used to go to a female only gym but they started offering teeth whitening, fillers, dermabrasion etc and I decided that they were targeting already vulnerable women who were self conscious about their body and this was added pressure which I felt was sending the wrong message so I left.

It is not a ghetto. It is a pleasure - where you can exercise, have treatments, a massage and socialise just with other women.

You've never seen any evidence of sexual harassment, ever?

You are a lucky special sausage aren't you?

Well, as they say, it's my lived experience. And no, I haven't.

Personally, I think it's often the more subtle stuff that's tricky at many gyms today. Overall, our gym is pretty good and I don't see a lot of this sort of thing. BUT the little more subtle things are there I think and annoying. I don't use the actual gym floor but the treadmills look out onto the floor and occasionally I'll see the universal Man-Taking-Up-Space (and taking longer and not being considerate). Or I've seen situations where if a woman pauses for a while a man then strikes up chit chat or starts to use her machine. Nothing truly awful but I think very irritating and MALE.

well yes, but it's up to tell him to stop using her machine, surely?